Iran Squash

(C. maxima) 115 days One of the most unusual and beautiful squashes you will ever see! We have been trying for several years to get this variety into the catalog. Collected in 1940 in the northeastern Iranian city of Torbat-e-Heydariyeh, and preserved at the USDA seed bank ever since. Not known to the public until a few years ago, when our friend Glenn Drowns introduced it. This squash is super ornamental, with its unique, foam-green rind that's mottled in soft peachy orange. Round and slightly ribbed fruit are medium to large in size. It keeps for a year or more, and is perfect for fall decorating.

I still have one of these squashes in my pantry that I harvested in June, 2013. It is now February, 2015. The squash is not a bit rotten! I used gray water from my laundry to grow these, and they did take a lot of water. They are not too resistant to the vine borers, but managed to produce 3 nice squashes from one plant. I did need to hand-pollinate. If you are interested in long-term food storage, this is the one for you! I am zone 8-9, and I planted in late March and harvested in June. Took more like 90 days than 115 days.

Hearty and tolerated drought, and temperatures exceeding 100 degrees no problem, though some wilt would occur in blazing sun with no water(perk-up nicely at dusk). The largest squash maxed-out at 37.9lbs being harvested and cured in early July, and kept well into November. Wonderful for deer, they seemed to treat it like candy and great to watch them enjoy the snack by our pond. The sea foam oranges, peaches, greens, and even hints of turquoise in the white striations make it visually stunning. People went crazy over them and they would be a great addition to your farmer market stand come fall. Did not grow for eating as I have grow other tried and beloved varieties for cooking/baking. As far as care they were relatively low maintenance as far as pumpkins are concerned, squash bugs loved the vines but left the pumpkins alone(row covers early help kill the fist waves along with rotating your planting zone). Would love to share a photo of my crops if that can be added to the site!

To be fair, I planted very late (mid-July) - here in MI, we don't get much bee activity later in the summer, when these flowered. I got one fruit per plant, but they were large and healthy. I had a little trouble keeping the squash bugs away, as they were attracted to the fruits. Meaty, sweet taste, vigorous vines which seemed impervious to mildew, and good performance under drought conditions mean I'll grow this again.